World Championships, Day 2 Prelims: Xu Jiayu Leads 100 Back as Big Names Struggle

Thomas Ceccon of Italy reacts after competing in the 50m Butterfly Men Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 23rd, 2023.

Thomas Ceccon; Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships, Day 2 Prelims: Xu Jiayu Leads 100 Back as Big Names Struggle

Xu Jiayu showed impressive form in the morning preliminaries of the men’s 100 backstroke at the World Aquatics Championships, setting the pace with a time of 52.87.

He leads a youthful contingent in the top eight of that race, which heads to semifinals Monday night. The 2017 and 2019 World Champions in this event is joined by frequent foil Ryan Murphy, who comfortably booked passage into the semifinals in 53.43 seconds. That’s the fourth seed for the night.

The cutline featured plenty of big names in uncomfortable proximity. Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, the gold medalist from Budapest and world record holder, will have to defend his title from an outside lane in semis tonight. He went 53.84, a time that was just 14th best. Hunter Armstrong, the bronze medalist from 2022, scraped into the 16th and final spot in semifinals at 53.94, by .01 over Australian Isaac Cooper. The other alternate was Ryosuke Irie, who finished seventh in the first of three circle-seeded heats with Armstrong. His time of 53.98 means he missed out on a second swim, drawing a disappointed sigh from the home crowd at the Marine Messe Hall.

It’s mostly youth in the top eight. Hungary’s Hubert Kos set the second-best time in 53.12. Third was Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk in 53.15. Oliver Morgan, who celebrated his 20th birthday last month, was fifth in 53.52. There was a three-way tie for sixth place in 53.57 between Mewen Tomac of France, Ole Braunschweig of Germany and Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov.

The event is, of course, one of the most affected by the ongoing absence of Russian swimmers. Evgeny Rylov won gold in this event at the Tokyo Olympics, with countryman Kliment Kolesnikov second. Both are absent from Fukuoka and a definite question mark for the Paris Olympics next summer.

If they’re not there, plenty of others will step up. The semifinal is very European, with 12 from the continent advancing. Both Polish swimmers got there, with Kacper Stokowski in 12th. There’s a pair of Iberians in the final, too, with Hugo Gonzalez of Spain in ninth, .01 up on Portugal’s Joao Costa.

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